Ask him
by cute-battery
Summary: Set after The End, Raven dealing with the afteraffects, coming out of her shell, & new emotions rising. Until, that is, her rampant powers cause a terrible accident that drives her away from the tower. RobRae.
1. Prelude: The End

So here's my first crack at a fic. Please review, tell me what you think, and constructive crtiscism is appreciated!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. If I did...well...

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**Prelude: The End**

_...I wanted to ask him then._

….when he found me in the depths of that hellish place, in the shape of a child, lost; when he picked me up, and held me, and he told me a story that I knew like a dream, when I remembered who he was, who _I _was, what had happened, what I had done…

_Then…_

…when he cradled my body off the ground when I fell, as the sun eclipsed and all went dark, and fear shone in my friend's eyes. I couldn't tell if he was afraid. I couldn't see his eyes.

_Then…_

When he held my hand in the place where it happened, trying to tell me it would be alright. But it wouldn't, so I let go; and when he ran after me, I trapped them all behind a wall of my dark energy so they couldn't stop me, my destiny.

So I couldn't hear them call to me.

_Then…_

…before that day even started, when I stood on the tower rooftop, my limbs bearing the red markings, and watched the sunrise. He stood with me and talked about how beautiful it was, how the sunrise promised hope.

Asking him then would've finalized everything.

Asking him would have spoiled on last day.


	2. Reaction

**1: Reaction**

The end of the world came and went rather quietly, with the exclusion of the "end" part. Life went on as usual; pizza was eaten, malls were shopped in, and people lived on without the slightest idea that the world had almost ended. The public masses were frozen as stone at then time, and one can't see much with stone eyes.

The Teen Titans kept the whole fiasco quiet. They felt it was better that the population of the Earth didn't go into mass hysteria after the almost end of the world.

That, and the girl who both let it happen and stopped it was rather fond of her reclusive privacy.

Raven stirred her tea absentmindedly and watched Cyborg and Beast Boy play a particularly violent videogame involving crashing, explosions and general debauchery on the giant TV screen. She then wondered why she was watching them play the damn thing in the first place.

2 months had passed since Trigon had been vanquished. Life returned to the norm; wake up, drink tea, beat up villains, go home, meditate, go to bed, wash, rinse, repeat.

"Fine with me." She said to no one, and sipped her tea.

"What's fine with you?"

Robin turned the corner into the kitchen and peeked inside the refrigerator, only to close it dejectedly. "Tofu." He grimaced with distaste. Raven hid a smile behind her teacup.

"Good mood this morning?" he asked before he started to rummage through a cupboard, tossing aside numerous tofu by-products.

"What makes you say that?" she tried to make her voice sound innocent.

"Because," he grinned at her from behind the cupboard door. "You never used to smile-aHA!"

He emerged with an armful of cans and cartons, piling them on the counter as Raven watched silently. He sorted through them, setting aside decent or edible stuff from the rest.

"What's-eww."

"What?"

Robin held out a can for her to see. The label read "Brains" and had a picture of brains being served with scrambled eggs on a large platter.

Raven almost choked on her tea.

"The hell-?"

Robin gave her a concurring grin and stuck out his tongue in disgust. Raven smiled again and Robin felt a fluttering sensation in his chest.

'What 'choo doing with my brains?" Cyborg demanded, striding up to the counter and snatched the can out of Robin's hand.

"Why do we have canned brains in the Tower?" he asked

"Why is there such a thing as canned brains?" Raven inquired the more obvious question.

"Because," Cyborg explained "I have a bet."

The mechanized human looked furtively down at the green changeling that appeared at his elbow, who took one look at the can, whimpered, and sunk down out of sight.

"Oh yes," Cyborg continued, waving the can around. "Which states that if I ever eat that tofu he's so crazy about, BB has to eat a can of pig brains." Both Robin and Raven made noises of disgust. Beast Boy muttered unintelligibly from under the counter.

"So the next time he bugs me about tofu, I'm gonna eat it, so he has to eat this." Cyborg waved the can under the counter at Beast Boy, who squealed in horror and scrambled from the kitchen and down the hall.

Robin and Cyborg burst out laughing, but stopped abruptly when they realized Raven was caught in a fit of giggles as well.

Since the defeat of Trigon, nobody, not even Raven, knew how it would effect her powers; though she seemed to have been making an effort in trying to be more social, and she had loosened up a little, and she even smiled now and then (to Robin's elation). A dry or humorless chuckle was the closest she'd ever gotten to laughing.

But she was…giggling.

She subsided, wiping at her eyes.

"Make sure I'm around when you make good on that bet." She told him. Her grin vanished at the sight of their astonished faces.

"What?" she demanded, no trace of humor in her voice.

"You…._giggled_." he pointed almost accusingly at her. "You never giggle."

An uncharacteristic blush of the deepest crimson spread across her cheeks. Her eyes narrowed, looking accusingly at Robin as if daring him to laugh at her too. He didn't.

Starfire chose that exact moment to float in, arms in the air, smile wide and eyes bright. "Good day, my friends!" she cried "I heard laughter, and am curious as to what it was about!" She hovered for a moment and realized they weren't laughing any more.

"But why have you stopped?" the pretty alien inquired, looking to each of them in turn.

"Raven giggled." Cyborg blurted out like he was tattling before Robin could stop him. Raven slumped a little, getting angrier by the second. Starfire blinked, and then said quite seriously, "Is the world ending again?"

A streak of black energy cut through a chunk of the counter then tore a few doors off the cabinet, and Raven stalked out of the room, swirling her cloak around the corner. Her bedroom door slammed closed from far off.

"What did you have to do that for?" Robin raged at his two remaining teammates. "She wasn't doing anything wrong!"

"But Robin," Starfire pleaded "I did not mean to hurt friend Raven's feelings! I was merely checking, as the only time Raven had acted cheerfully was when the world was going to end!"

Robin rolled his eyes behind his mask and stalked around the kitchen. He slammed a cupboard door shut, making Starfire flinch. Rubbing his brow, he gestured to them pleadingly. "Just give her a break, alright? She's really trying…" he trailed off.

"We are sorry, Robin." Starfire murmured humbly. "Raven has been different since she defeated the Trigon."

"You're right, man. She gets enough grief from BB." Cyborg said. Robin nodded appreciatively at them. His eyes met with the unedible food piled on the counter.

"Thanks guys. Now let's make a grocery run. But, lets not take Beast Boy."


	3. Strange Happenings

**3. Strange Happenings**

Clock struck midnight. Raven drifted silently down the dark hallway from her room to the living area, making for the kitchen, not bothering to flick on the lights.

Raven hated not being able to sleep. She thought that rather funny, as before 2 months ago she hated sleep. She had never dreamed; she had nightmares, and they had come more often and more devastating as the Day drew nearer. _He _had always been there, a shadow she couldn't see but out of the corner of her eye, whispering to her that she couldn't escape, how her destiny was coming ever closer.

She opened the cupboard door, seeing freshly stocked shelves.

_They must've made a grocery run, _she thought, _Robin couldn't bare to live on tofu alone._

She reached for a tea box in the dark, knowing where by memory. Her pale fingers met a neat wall of tea boxes, looking like they had been placed with an obsessive amount of care. They were even color-coded; orange and green ones separated evenly from purple and gray ones.

She sighed, smiling appreciatively. Robin always went out of his way to make her feel better, even buying a shelf full of tea and organizing it with every obsessive-compulsive bone in his body. It seemed trivial, but Raven's insides always gave a pleasant lurch whenever she came upon on of these instances.

She picked out and orange box, labeled ginger, and studied it. She'd never bought ginger tea before, usually sticking to green or jasmine tea. It seemed Robin had just gone through and picked out a bunch of whatever he found. She shrugged nonchalantly and grabbed a mug from an adjacent cupboard.

"What're you doing up?"

Robin's drowsy voice shot through the quiet, giving Raven a start, which she disguised as a glance over her shoulder. The fluttering came back to her, this time unwelcome.

"I could say the same." She replied, filling her cup with hot water.

"Couldn't sleep. Heard you get up and thought I'd join you." He sauntered across the room and pulled up a stool, resting his elbows on the smooth stone countertop. Raven faced him, dunking the teabag in her cup and letting it soak. She pulled up a stool across from him.

"Thanks for the tea," she said, gesturing with her head at the cupboard. "And so neatly arranged." She smirked at him.

"No problem, Rae. It seemed like you needed a pick-me-up after this morning." She made a "phht" sound from behind her cup and sipped sparingly at the hot liquid, testing the new flavor.

Spicy.

She recoiled a little, the taste mixed with hot made her tongue feel burny.

"Something wrong?" Robin asked.

"No, no," she waved off his concern "this new stuff you got me is just a bit spicy."

She surprised herself when she slid her cup over to Robin, but was even more surprised when he actually took a sip, only to set it down at once and waggle his tongue against his lips in the characteristic of a burnt tongue. "Yeah," he grimaced "You'll only wanna drink that in the morning. Woke me up." The movement of his brow told that he was blinking wide eyes.

_Then…_

She made an amused sound in her throat, catching the cup as it was slid back to her. Robin drummed his gloved fingers against the counter, looking around the cavernous living room as if waiting for something to come to him. His face brightened suddenly, and a mischievous grin appeared on his lips.

"Wanna play a game?"

Raven blinked.

"A game?"

"Yah!" Robin hopped off the stool and made his way to the opposite side of the room and patted the green felt of Cyborg's latest purchase; a brand new billiards table.

Raven stared "I don't think so, Bird Boy."

Robin was not so easily put off. Not this time; he finally had a chance to pry her from her shell.

"Come on," he wheedled "Playing by myself I no fun. What else are you going to do?"

Raven held her cup and pointed, giving him the "um, hello?" look before taking another draught. He sighed, "Fine, fine." And picked out a stick to his liking, flourishing it around like his bo staff. He collected the solids and stripes and racked them up, very loudly and with some dramatics to make sure Raven paid attention. He gave the stick another twirl, holding it like a staff at his side.

"You sure you don't want to play?"

She had been watching him, and there was a hesitant pause before she answered.

"I don't even know how." She sounded tentative, and Robin jumped at his chance.

"I can teach you." He offered hopefully, flashing her a smile.

Another hesitant pause. She gave him a weary look, sighed, and became enveloped in black energy, vanishing through the floor. Robin's heart sank, until the cloaked girl materialized through the floor beside him, reluctantcy gracing her pale face.

"One game."

Robin grinned widely at her, handing her a pool stick. "Great." He placed the cue ball on its spot and took aim.

"In pool, you always hit the other balls with the cue ball." he shot, and the cue hit the colored balls with a loud crack, scattering them all over the green table. Satisfied, he looked up at Raven, who looked ready to sink through the floor again.

"Solids or stripes?"

"What?"

"Which ones do you want, solids or stripes?" Robin repeated.

"Solids."

"Okay. So, throughout the game you hit in only the solids, I the stripes." He explained "Except the 8 ball." He pointed to the black ball, which was sitting teasingly in front of a side-pocket.

"Why not?"

"It determines who win. When all the other balls are pocketed, we take turns at hitting it. Whoever hits it in, wins."

Raven nodded. "This is pointless."

Robin scowled. "It's just a game Rae; it doesn't have to have a point. It's just for fun." He told her "Your shot."

Raven sighed again, and bent awkwardly to the table, trying to imitate Robin's stance. She cradled the tip of the stick between her thumb and pointer finger, took aim, and only grazed the cue, sending sideways. She stepped back from the table instantly.

"I told you." She muttered darkly to Robin.

"No, no it's fine. You just need some practice. Here," he moved around the table to stand beside her before she could protest, and moved the cue ball back to where it was before. "Try again."

She gave him a skeptical look and an eye roll before leaning over the table again. She was about to shoot when she felt Robin's hand on her shoulders. "You're shooting from you from your arm, Rae." He said gently, and then gave her right shoulder a squeeze. "It's all in the shoulder."

Trying to banish the fluttering in her stomach and the sudden flush in her cheeks, she stared down the cue ball determinedly, shot, and hit it, but very weakly, sending it only a few inches to barely touch one of her solids. She made an exasperated huff and looked at Robin again. "This is stupid, I-" But Robin cut her off. "One more Raven, you'll hit it this time." She glared. "Hey, if you don't, I'll leave you alone." He promised.

Her fingers tightened on her stick, she rolled her eyes again.

Robin replaced the cue a second time, and Raven leaned down once more, but Robin didn't wait to help her. He adjusted her fingers so that the stick was cradled between her arched middle and pointer fingers, and mimicked her stance right behind her.

"Okay, remember, it's in the shoulder." He murmured, and covered her hand with his, guiding her movements as she took aim.

_He was so close…to close…but…_

"Shoot!"

She did, and the cue struck a solid with a satisfying crack and sent it into a corner pocket. A smile spread across her face, and she glanced at Robin, suddenly realizing how close he was to her. The fluttering got stronger.

"See? I told you." He said, giving her back a lingering touch before standing up. "You get another shot, Rae."

She gave him another smile _(I've been doing that a lot, she thought)_ and studied her options, lining up for another shot.

Robin watched, leaning casually on his stick. He watched her line up, watched her focus, watched her hair, the curve of her back, her legs….

Another crack snapped him back from his reverie. The cue ball hit, but the ball missed. Raven stood back, looking cross. "Your turn."

Robin felt punch-drunk. Thankful for his mask, he blinked his eyes furiously and hoped Raven didn't see him shake his head as if to rid his ears of water. He missed his shot. Raven chuckled. He gave her a reproachful look.

"Ah, she laughs." He teased as she bent to take her shot. He circled behind her, watching her body tense in effort to ignore him. He ran the blue-chalked tip of his stick against the back of her knees, effectively making her miss terribly and leaving a blue line in wake.

The dark bird stood bolt upright, looking scandalized, while Robin was looking innocently at the ceiling, whistling, but a smile was tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"Suave, Bird Brain." she said. Robin shrugged innocently and mouthed "what?" to her. He flourished his stick expertly aimed another shot, determined to out-concentrate Raven.

From nowhere, it seemed, Raven swooped down close to his face, and blew softly in his ear, addling his brains so he missed even worse than she; his stick jerked, missing the cue ball completely and nearly slipped out of his hands. Raven went into a fit of giggles like she had that morning, and Robin forgot his annoyance at once when he realized that her laugh was a most beautiful sound.

"Still laughing?" he lunged at her, catching her waist and tickled. She stifled a shriek of laughter and tried to escape, staggering away.

_He was close…so close…but…_

On the pool table, several of the balls glowed with energy; some dark, some light.

_(uncertainty at what she wants, but wanting it very much)_

The dark ones crack a little, but do not break.

The two birds collapsed beside each other onto one of the couches around the pool table. As Robin watched Raven's giggling subside, it hit him how rare this moment was. He wanted more of these moments. With her.

"I think," Raven smeared tears from her eyes "that that is the hardest I've ever laughed."

"I bet. You've never laughed like that whenever Beast Boy has tried to tickle you."

"That's because he only ever gets as far as 'tried'." She said stiffly, trying to surpress what Robin thought was a wicked grin.

"Wanna finish the game?"

She shook her head and yawned widely. "Another time, Boy Wonder. I'm tired now." She got up, stretching sinuously and made her way back to her room, leaving a disappointed Robin back on the couch. She turned the corner into the hall, and Robin was suddenly beside her.

"What, no goodnight?" Even in the dark, she heard him grinning.

"I thought it was a given." She replied airily. She immediately regretted her answer.

"Well, alright." He muttered, gloom creeping into his voice. He turned away down the hall.

Now she felt really bad.

"Robin?"

He spun around, almost lost in the darkness of the corridor.

"Tomorrow. Same Bat-time. We'll finish the game, 'kay?"

She saw him smile in the dark. "Sounds good."

"Goodnight Robin."

"Goodnight Raven."


	4. Suggestions of an Awkward Nature

Hey! Robin and Raven are actuall getting wise in this chapter!

I just want to thank all those who are commenting.Gives me a confidence boost to get these written!

On with the chapter!

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**Suggestions of an Awkward Nature**

Finishing Raven's first game of pool soon turned into another game, at Raven's request, surprisingly; and that turned into another game, and another, and another, until nearly a week and a half had passed since the start of what became a nightly ritual.

They didn't tell their fellow teammates about their clandestine midnight games; it was their thing, one thing they shared with each other; and though neither would admit it, they both felt that, in the pit of their hearts, it was almost…illicit.

"Especially not Starfire." Robin had heartily agreed when Raven had brought up the subject.

Robin had only one problem with this: Raven had gotten astonishingly good at pool. Good enough that Robin had to stop going easy on her and actually try to beat her. That, and he didn't have to teach her anymore; he could give her pointers and such, but he didn't have to guide her like he had the first night, and he found that oddly displeasing.

"Should we play for anything tonight?"

Raven looked at him quizzically from across the table as she collected the colored balls from the pockets and set them in the wooden triangle.

"Play for anything?" she asked, then curiously "Like what?"

"I dunno." Robin shrugged and scratched the back of his neck "Anything, I guess."

"I'm not playing strip-pool for you, Wonder Boy." She said humorlessly, though a frightened smirk was forcing itself out.

Robin snorted with laughter. Then an image popped unwarningly into his head and his mind scrambled to pop it back out again. He saw Raven was blushing.

He cleared his throat. "We'll think of something."

He reached under the table and pulled a quarter from a small ledge on one of the wooden legs.

"Heads or tails?"

"Tails."

Robin flipped the silver coin, spun on his heel, and caught in with an unnecessary flourish. Raven scoffed teasingly at him.

"Heads. My shot." He scrutinized the table, and leaned down to aim.

"I got it," he said "The first one to miss 2 pockets has to scream..Uh…bunnies make good fuzzy pancakes or something in the morning, in front of everyone." He looked up at Raven, who was laughing at him from behind her hand.

"Okay," she agreed slyly "I just hope that you like looking crazy, because Cyborg will have half the mind to ship you off to Arkham when you make good on that in the morning."

"Oh-ho, she poses a challenge." He said narratively, looking down his stick at the cue ball. Hit and miss.

"Straight to Arkham." Raven joked "Almost there."

"You saying I don't spout nonsense about bunnies and pancakes enough for me not to seem crazy?"

"Spot on." Raven gave him a cheeky smile and hit a solid into a side pocket.

"Strip-pool is sounding better right now." He said, and gave Raven a furtive glance that was meant to be playful.

The remaining balls on the table glowed with light or dark energy. The blue chalk cube exploded in a flash of dark light.

The pair of them stood in stunned silence, Raven's violet eyes fixed on the spot where the chalk cube had been. She looked both embarrassed and utterly horrified.

"What was that?" he asked her quietly. Their comfortable aura with each other was suddenly clouded; they could both feel it.

"Raven?" She hadn't answered.

"Nothing! Nothing…" she gasped out quickly, as if snapped from a daydream. "I just-" She stopped, closing her eyes, her face glazing over with her usual nonchalant expression. The blush in her cheeks, however, remained vividly crimson.

"What? Is something wrong?" Robin persisted, coming closer to her and touched her hand comfortingly. Their carefully forged connection has hit a spike, and his touch feels like an electric shock on her skin.

"No!" she snapped with more force than she meant to. Robin's hand remained firmly over hers until she jerked her own away.

"I'm sorry Robin, I-" she looked apologetic as she sidestepped down the short stairs. She finished with a hasty "goodnight" before disappearing around the corner, leaving a very befuddled Robin behind.

Raven was berating herself as she dashed back to her room.

'What is wrong with you? How could you let that happen? You're not supposed to feel that way….'

"But you do." She whispers to herself once she's back inside her dark room, sliding down to the floor with her back against the door.

Moonlight illuminates her books, her posters, her shelves filled with trinkets and ornamental weapons. Raven felt like crying.

"You do."

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_She is afraid of what she wants._

_She is afraid of the hurt._

_She has been hurt before._

_But she wants what she is afraid of._

_And fear overcomes the want._

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Raven had avoided him all day.

Robin was sprawled out on the couch by the pool table, his masked eyes trained expectantly on the opening of the corridor to the living area.

It was 12:20 am and Raven had not appeared for their game.

He was going over everything in his head. The morning after Raven had left their game so suddenly she hadn't come out of her room for breakfast.

Starfire had gone to try and coax Raven out, but she only returned with a shrug and looking rather glum.

"She says she will not come out, Robin." Starfire said, floating over to him. "Perhaps she is sick?"

"Nah," Cyborg scoffed, stirring his waffle batter erratically. "That girl never gets sick."

"She hasn't holed up in her room for awhile." Beast Boy said, stirring his tofu-waffle batter with equal ferocity. "She probably felt overdue."

She even avoided him when they got called out to take care of some new mediocre villain whose name he couldn't remember and looked like a walking cactus plant gone wrong. When they returned to the tower, Raven disappeared back to her room as if she had never left.

Robin toyed with the cue ball in his hands; rolling it over his palm and back of his hand, his eyes still fixed on the corridor.

Why had she acted like that? Had he said something wrong? Done something wrong? He replayed the scenario over again in his mind. Maybe she was mad at him…

He found himself thinking back to the first night they played rather fondly. When he was teaching her how to play, how he missed that, how he had watched her, how beautiful her laugh was…

Realization struck him like a smack to the head.

Raven.

He was…he liked- he…

Even his thoughts were stuttering. He liked Raven. Not just liked, no, he was…

His chest was fluttering with an inexplicable amount of feeling. His mind went back again to the first night, this time centered on the violet-haired girl. Her laugh was a most beautiful thing, and she only laughed like that when she was around him…

All the pieces he had pondered suddenly clicked into place, and realization struck him like a lightning bolt.

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Ooh...


	5. Fear Overcomes the Want

Yaaaaayy update. Arr, I hated this chapter. It was so awkward and a mean writer's block was giving me a concussion.

Anyway, on wiv da fic!

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"That's why they call them crushes. If they were easy, they'd call them something else."

-Sixteen Candles

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**Fear Overcomes the Want**

That week was a tough one for Robin.

As one does, Robin had gone to bed that night with his mind ablaze at his discovery while waiting for Raven. He didn't wait for he much longer; he realized how nervous he was at the prospect of talking to Raven and hurried back to his room, leaving the table, his stick, the balls and the cue in places they would be for a very long time.

He lay in bed, rolled on his back with his hands behind his head, and stared at the ceiling, covered with photographs. Simple Polaroids, of his friends, Bruce, and a very old one of his younger self with his family. His eyes lingered on Raven in the photo of the Titans. Beast Boy had taken it; he was trying to get in front of the shot before the timer stopped. In the picture, the frame was skewed, and Beast Boy was in mid-stumble to the floor.

She was sitting on the couch in the living room, her face hid partially behind a book. Unsmiling. He was beside her, smiling only a little. This was before the Day.

It was almost strange to see her looking so grim. The Raven in the picture did no justice to the girl she was now; who got up in the middle of the night and consented to play pool with a spikey-haired boy.

'But what happened?' he thought over again. Only awhile ago he had been thinking (_hoping)_ that her reaction to him had been a mirror of his own feelings, until doubt clouded his sky of hopes.

"What if I'm just fooling myself…" he trailed off. The elated feeling in his chest had turned into a painful knot in his gut. With one more look at the violet-haired girl in the photo, Robin rolled over and drifted into a very uneasy, very confused sleep.

* * *

_She is afraid._

_But she is free now._

_And that makes it worse._

_Emotions are a part._

_She's never truly felt them before._

_She is afraid of what she wants._

* * *

"Raven has hidden in her room again, Robin."

Starfire drifted out of the hall for what seemed like the twentieth time that week.

"She in getting thinner friends," Starfire said softly, her voice laced with worry. "I think she is not well."

Robin said nothing; just stared absently into the dark granite countertop, shoulders hunched.

"Friends, we must do something. Raven needs our help." Starfire continued in a hushed but firm voice.

"Do you think it has anything to do with Trigon?" Cyborg offered, speaking to all but staring pointedly at Robin, who seemed to ignore him.

"Maybe something happened at the fight downtown today," Beast Boy piped in "I could change into an ant and check up on her." He demonstrated, turning into a little green ant and scuttling across the counter.

Robin brought the flat of his hand down in a sharp smack on the counter, only an inch from Beast Boy, who changed back abruptly and glared at Robin before hopping off the counter.

"It's not Trigon," he muttered throatily "but she's not sick."

"Then what could be wrong?" Starfire asked.

"I'll talk to her," Robin answered, the tone of his voice finalizing the hushed discussion.

"When it's right to."

It was about 10:15 pm. The Teen Titans were turning in for the night. Once they were asleep Raven was considering sneaking out to grab some food to sate her growling stomach. She was in the process of healing the wound in her leg she'd acquired earlier that day, but her energy was low due to hunger, so the process was going frustratingly slow. Raven replaced her dagger on its shelf. It had an antique look to it, the hilt and guard were once clear silver, but had tarnished to a darker, almost iron-looking metal. On the handle, Azarathian runes and symbols were carved in fine script.

The strange cactus-like villain had struck again, and Raven had been caught in the path of a rain of cactus spikes. She had managed to hide the spine embedded in her thigh from her teammates, and she avoided the hospital room, only stopping to gather some anti-septic and bandages, before retreating to her room once again. She didn't want to be caught. She didn't want to talk. Digging and prying the deeply set spine from her leg as delicately as possible with the tip of her dagger was an experience she never wanted to weather again.

At 10:16, her leg half-healed, Raven limped in the most dignified way she could over to the door. She was reaching for the doorknob when a green-gloved knock came from the other side.

Raven froze.

_Oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no…._

Another knock, this time more persistent.

"Raven?"

Panic ensued. She couldn't talk to him! What if it happened again?

"Raven?"

'Maybe he saw my injury,' she thought frantically 'Yah, he just saw…'

She opened the door only a crack to peek out at the masked eyes staring back at her.

"Can I talk to you?"

Robin thought for a moment that she was going to slam the door in his face from the way she looked at him.

"Can I talk to you?"

She looked hesitant, her violet eyes wide and nervous.

"Please, Raven." He muttered. Another pause. She opened the door wider to let him pass, and asked in hard tone, "What do you want?"

'_Please let it be about the wounds.'_

Robin didn't speak at once. His eyes were scanning around her shadowed room. He'd never so much as peeked inside before.

"Robin." Raven's voice grated, bringing him back to attention.

"I want to talk to you."

"What about?" she was on the defensive.

"Well," he started; matter-of-factly "You've been pretty scarce lately, and Starfire says you've gotten thinner, you look paler…than usual…" he listed. Raven remained expressionless.

"And about you running out on me in the middle of our game."

Raven silently thanked the darkness for hiding the deep blush she felt spread over her cheeks.

"I haven't been meditating well lately." She answered half-truthfully. She really hadn't, but it wasn't the reason.

"That's why you ran out?" He sounded fierce.

"Something came up."

There was another tension-ridden pause between them.

"I'm disinclined to believe that." Robin's tone changed from concerned friend to firm leader.

"Are you _angry _with me Robin?" she growled, with a hint of challenge.

"Maybe." He said coolly. "Why are you bleeding?"

Raven's eyes darted to her leg; the wound had opened again to let a fresh trickle of blood to trail down her leg.

"Damn." Raven cursed quietly, shrinking away from Robin and huddled to the floor to examine her leg.

"Raven-"

"It's nothing Robin, I can handle it." She growled

"No, you need-"

"Robin, stop!"

He was knelt in front of her, his hands on her shoulders, ready to push her to sit.

"Raven, you're in a tough condition. You're undernourished and unable to use your powers to their highest extent," he paused to look at her; her expression a mite scandalized.

"You once said I knew you best." He said his tone gentle once more.

She sat down.

"What happened?"

"The cactus thing," she explained softly "My leg got in the way of a spine."

His fingers grazed lightly over her injured leg, sending a shiver through her body.

"I meant the game the other night."

* * *

Beneath his fingers he felt her body tense.

"Nothing Robin. Leave it alone."

'You have the right to know,' said a harsh-toned voice somewhere deep in his mind 'If you're as close as you think you are, you should know.'

"No. I won't leave it alone."

* * *

_Something in Robin's demeanor has changed._

_Something in his voice._

_A plea._

_Does he feel…?_

_She is afraid._

* * *

"I can't leave it alone."

The two of them are oblivious to their surroundings. Oblivious to the time, the place, and the objects on the shelves, wobbling violently, enclosed in dark energy and rising.

The dagger shakes the most.

* * *

_Part of her wants it._

'_Rational thought' tells her no._

_It causes hurt._

_It causes discord._

* * *

Robin hung his head, sighing. Raven is still, almost afraid to move. He takes her shaking hands in his and pulls her with him as he stands. His eyes meet hers through the mask; holding her gaze, searching.

The shadows block out her face.

_Poor confused boy._

He draws a little closer to her, as if testing her limits. She'd compare her heartbeat to a hummingbird's beating wings if she could think clearly.

* * *

_She can't think._

'_Don't say it Robin, don't, please…_

_Afraid._

* * *

He's stumbling over his words; squeezing her hands gently, he mutters "I don't know what to feel-"

"Then don't!" her voice reaches a panicked pitch as she pulls her hands from his comforting grip. Her proclamation echoes eerily through the room, and a chill seems to settle. Objects are whirling around the room dangerously.

She moves away from him, but his hands latch onto her upper-arms, harsher as she struggles.

And everything snaps.

_Fear overcomes the want._

She stumbles into him when his grip suddenly does limp. His teeth are gritted and grinding. "Robin?"

She grabs his shoulders are he holds he waist to stay standing. Her fingers meet a hard, cold edge covered in something wet, sticky and warm.

Her dagger in buried half-way to the hilt in his shoulder.

His goes pale, and the floor rushes up to meet him.

* * *

Ooo cliffhanger! But rest assured! Only one more chapter before the healing can start!

What that a pun...?


	6. This Bird had Flown

**This fic has turned out to be more angsty than I originally planned. Angsty-angst-angst.**

**Beware the gore!**

**

* * *

**

**This Bird has Flown.**

Cyborg had just lain down on his palette and was about to shut down when he felt the chill. He thought he had imagined it; it was a feeling that prodded him in the back of his head, and minutes later, the prodding turned into a cold chill that swept over his mechanized body forbiddingly. He shivered.

That's when he heard Raven scream.

- - - - - - - - - -

Cyborg slammed open his door, nearly taking it off the frame in his rushed effort to get to Raven's room. Her terrified scream had died away and was silent, but rang hauntingly in his ears. He met Starfire zooming down the hall at him, looking very distressed, and her green eyes wide.

"Cyborg! You heard the scream as well!" she squeaked franticly.

"I did." He replied shortly, and took off down the hall with Starfire in wake.

The hall was silent, and sinisterly dark. This wouldn't have seemed out of the ordinary; until Starfire pressed her ear to Raven's door and heard muffled cries that sounded almost ghostly. She pulled back slowly.

"Raven…she is…crying." Starfire whispered.

_Something is wrong. _

Beast Boy came skidding around the corner a second later.

"I-did you guys-?" he panted, then leaned heavily on the wall to catch his breath.

Cyborg nodded.

"Where is Robin?" Starfire asked suddenly.

"He said he was gonna talk to Raven at….some….point…" Beast Boy trailed off, and his eyes widened.

Very slowly, all three pairs of eyes turned to the door, and they could hear the disembodied cries from within with horrible clarity.

_Something is **very **wrong._

- - - - - - - - -

Robin's body hit the floor with a dull thud and a thin moan of pain. Raven barely heard the scream that tore from her throat, anguished and unearthly, as it echoed through the tower. She followed him to the floor, ignoring the sharp pain in her thigh as she fell to her knees. She lifted his limp form into the sitting position; already blood had pooled beneath him, and she felt the warmth of it on her hands when she touched his back.

_his life is bleeding onto my hands_

She forced him to lean against her, dead weight falling against her shoulder. Suddenly, she felt his hand grasp her arm like he had before, but weakly. She didn't look at him, not even when he breathed her name in a pained voice. Tears welled in her eyes.

She found the dagger handle protruding from his shoulder, and wrapped her pale fingers around the handle tightly. With a shuddering breath, yanked out the offending blade and threw it aside. Another wave of crimson seeped from the wound; Robin's hand went limp on her arm, and another moan escaped him as he faded into unconsciousness.

_

* * *

__Why is she dizzy?_

_Why can't she think?_

_Oh Robin, please stay awake…_

* * *

She utters another small scream, and frantically presses her hand over the bleeding wound, willing it to heal, forcing what she can of her powers to work this time….

….._if not for me, work for him…._

Her hand glows dimly. In the back of her consciousness she hears voices outside her door.

Nothing is happening.

Robin is still bleeding.

Despair creeps her icy hand into Raven's heart, and she screams again.

_

* * *

__Her vision is blurring._

_Dizzy, can't think._

_His blood is on her hands._

_She is more afraid than ever._

* * *

"The door is locked!"

"Break it down!"

Starfire obliges at Cyborg's command, despite all she's been told about staying out of Raven's room. She rips the door clear off the frame and Cyborg rushes in through the threshold, scanning the dark with his mechanical eye.

A frightened gasp from Starfire jerks his attention in the direction of her pointing finger.

Raven's violet hair hangs like a curtain around her face. Sobs wrack her shivering form as she stares at her splayed, red-stained hands. Robin lies in front of her, looking rather innocent were it not for the widening stain seeping from his shoulder.

- - - - - - - - -

"His condition is stabilized, but his blood-loss level is high."

Cyborg turned from the monitor to look at the motionless form of his leader, still unconscious, lain out on the gurney.

Cyborg had had only a moment to take in the shock after seeing the scene in Raven's room before she had spoken. She looked up at him with tear-reddened eyes and choked "Help him." And without a questioning word he lifted Robin from the floor and dashed to the medical room with Beast Boy on his heels. They staunched and cleaned the wound, then stitched it evenly, checking all his vital signs to insure no fatal damage was done. The dagger had come dangerously close to a lung.

By then, Raven had retreated to the roof, as Starfire reported, and was doing nothing, not even meditating. Just standing, watching.

Waiting.

"Then he will be alright?" Starfire asked anxiously from her seat at Robin's bedside.

"Eventually, Star. His shoulder will be out of commission for awhile, and hopefully no lasting damage." He sighed and looked troubled.

"Do we know what happened?" Beast Boy crossed his arms and leaned against a wall, looking grim.

"Raven did not speak to me, but I feel it was an accident," Starfire paused, looking at Robin. "Raven would not do something like this, not on purpose, and not to Robin."

"I know Star, but we have to assume the worst." Cyborg said heavily, hating the words as he said them.

"So? You assumed the worst about me once, and the worst wasn't even me! Raven may be creepy sometimes, but she wouldn't do something like this." Beast Boy defended, his chin jutted out aggressively.

"I know, BB, I know." He exhaled, rubbing his brow. "But this is different. She was _right there._"

"Raven has never screamed like that," Starfire said quietly. "It was strange…." She looked shaken to the very marrow.

- - - - - - - - - -

Like a patch of night she moved through the tower, drifting silently down hallways. Her eyes were red from crying, but she had washed the red from her hands hours ago.

She pushed the door open the door to the medical room quietly as possible, but no one was there to hear.

Except the boy on the gurney.

She shut the door behind her and took the seat next to the gurney that Starfire had occupied earlier. She watched him in silence for a while before she lowered the hood over her cloak and reached out a timid hand to touch his.

Gingerly, she slipped her other hand under his shoulder, placing her palm over the stitched wound. A white glow radiated from her hand, then transferred to his shoulder.

The light increased for only a fraction of a second, and then vanished altogether.

Muscle joined with muscle, and torn flesh knitted back together, leaving a brown scar only half the size if her smallest finger.

Robin shifted slightly, and Raven jerked her hand back, but he didn't wake.

She exhaled deeply and with remorse.

"I'm sorry Robin." She whispered, and then rose. With brief hesitation, she reached out and brushed strands of jet-black hair from his face. Her fingers touched the edge of his black and white mask, and she knew that now she'd never get to ask him.

She leaned down and kissed him softly on his cheek.

Standing straight, she replaced her hood and withdrew her hands into the folds of her cloak. When the door clicked shut behind her, and she set off down the hall, more tears leaked from her eyes.

She remembered a line from a book she once read, walking from her room with a knapsack slung over her shoulder and another clutched in her hands.

'_Only thieves and children run.'_

She had stolen something from him. It was precious, and she couldn't give it back, not now, probably not ever, even though she wanted to with every aching fiber of her being. What it was, she might never fully comprehend. But she had stolen. She was a thief.

And now she ran.

* * *

"The bright day is done

and we are for the dark."

-William Shakespeare

* * *

**Angst!**

**5 points and a braincookie to whoever figures out which book she's talking about. **


End file.
